Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Central Asset Investments & Management boosted its Alphabet stake by 72.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 9,363 more shares to bring its total to 22,307 shares worth about $7 million. Alphabet now represents 4.6% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Institutional investors continue to hold a large position in the stock, with firms like Vanguard and JPMorgan also increasing their Alphabet holdings. Overall, 27.26% of Alphabet shares are owned by institutions.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $372.65. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 72.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,307 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,363 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.6% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after buying an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after buying an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,749,864,000 after buying an additional 2,209,203 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,935,671,000 after acquiring an additional 223,743 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,971,769,000 after acquiring an additional 539,679 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary says Alphabet was one of the biggest winners among the Mag 7 this earnings season, helped by accelerating Google Cloud sales and broader AI-driven strength. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Alphabet’s new AI ad formats and shopping tools as potential catalysts for stronger search monetization, higher conversion rates, and increased ad spending. Alphabet's new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also announced a large $15 billion data center and AI infrastructure investment in Missouri, reinforcing investor confidence in its cloud and AI buildout. Google Deepens Missouri Roots with New Data Center, Energy, and Community Investments
• Neutral Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI search and agent features at I/O, which could improve engagement over time, but the rollout also raised concerns about complexity and possible disruption to the traditional search experience. You can no longer Google the word ‘disregard’
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo temporarily paused some robotaxi and freeway services after safety issues in flooded roads and construction zones; while this is not core to Alphabet’s profits, it adds execution risk and negative headlines. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet has appealed the U.S. search-monopoly ruling, keeping antitrust overhang and potential remedies in focus for investors. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Phillip Securities lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $372.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $379.38 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $335.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.81. The firm has a market cap of $4.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.33 and a 52-week high of $404.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.Alphabet's revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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